New Delhi,November 11: Trinamool Congress and BSP on Tuesday scored spectacular victories in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh Assembly by-elections that saw the rout of Left Front in its bastions, while Congress snatched away the prestigious Firozabad Lok Sabha seat from Samajwadi Party.
Of the 10 Assembly seats in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Kerala and Chhattisgarh, the Congress bagged eight. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got the remaining two.
The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was another major gainer from Saturday’s by-elections as it was poised to win eight of 11 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, where it put up a poor show in the May Lok Sabha election.
But the biggest story of this round of by-poll is the complete rout of the Left. Their worst fears have come true.
After the humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, the combine has now been completely routed in both of its bastions West Bengal and Kerala in the by-polls.
West Bengal reposes faith in Didi
Riding the winds of change, Trinamool Congress and ally Congress bagged 8 of the 10 seats in the Assembly by-polls in West Bengal, handing out another humiliating defeat to Left Front major, CPI(M), which drew a blank.
Trinamool Congress, which fielded candidates in seven seats, made a clean sweep winning all of them. Congress, which contested three, won only one when it retained Sujapur assembly seat in Malda.
Even the red citadel of Belgachia East in the metropolis, represented since 1977 by former Transport minister Subhas Chakraborty, crumbled before a resurgent Trinamool Congress.
The party also set foot in North Bengal with Trinamool candidate Khageswar Ray wresting the Rajgunj seat by 15,029 votes from CPI(M) which had fielded Dhanapati Ray.
The seven seats won by TC are Alipur, Serampore, Bongaon, Egra, Contai South, Rajgunj and Belgachia East.
For the CPI(M)-led ruling Left Front, Forward Bloc’s victory in the Congress stronghold of Goalpokhar was the only consolation as all other partners including CPI-M lost.
Congress holds ground in Kerala
The Left was also routed in its other bastion of Kerala with Congress candidates managing to retain all three Assembly constituencies that went to polls.
In Kannur, former CPI-M Lok Sabha member AP Abdulla Kutty defeated MV Jayarajan of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) by over 12,000 votes.
In Ernakulam, Dominic Presentation defeated CPI-M’s PN Seenulal by more than 8,000 votes.
In Alappuzha, AA Shukur defeated G Krishnaprasad of the Communist Party of India (CPI) by over 5,000 votes.
Elephant on a roll in UP
Mayawati’s BSP has performed exceedingly well in the by-elections. The elephant was poised to win eight of 11 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, where it put up a poor show in the May Lok Sabha election.
–Agencies